Are you totally up to date on what's happening around the NBA? You have to be if you want to stay ahead of the competition in your fantasy league.
To help, I've done the work for you and compiled a look at the most fantasy-relevant news and notes for all 30 teams around the league.
Atlanta Hawks: It's safe to say that Jabari Parker has surpassed expectations since taking on a larger role during the past week in the wake of the John Collins suspension. In his past five games, Parker has put up 21.8 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.2 SPG, 1.2 BPG with a 55.3 FG%. This won't last once Collins returns to the lineup, but for the next month or so, Parker can be a key piece as long as he stays healthy.
Boston Celtics: In the two games since Gordon Hayward went down with a broken hand, we can already see several ways that the Celtics have adjusted without their All-Star swingman. For one, the scoring has picked up for Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, giving each a slight bump in fantasy value. Secondly, Marcus Smart has moved into the starting lineup and played a whopping 36.5 MPG. When Smart gets that much time on the court, he can be a big factor in terms of steals, assists and 3-pointers.
Brooklyn Nets: With Jarrett Allen plagued by fouls and turnovers, DeAndre Jordan has benefited with more playing time in recent games, and the veteran big man has taken full advantage of it. Jordan has three double-doubles in his past four games, adding eight blocks and four steals during that stretch. Jordan has averaged 22.4 MPG in his first nine games with the Nets, but that number is trending up, and if he can play 25-plus MPG, he can return to being a top-60 fantasy option.
Charlotte Hornets: A finger injury has kept Nicolas Batum sidelined since the first game of the season, but the veteran swingman appears to be getting close to returning to game action. He participated in most of Tuesday's practice and is likely to eat into the minutes of Dwayne Bacon and Malik Monk once he gets cleared to return to the Hornets' lineup.
Chicago Bulls: It's going to be difficult for Bulls coach Jim Boylen to keep Coby White on the bench if the rookie lottery pick continues to do things like he did in the Bulls' recent win over the Knicks. White connected on seven 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and finished with a career-high 27 points. White is much more of a scorer than a distributor at this stage in his career, but that knack for putting the ball in the hoop gives him value in points leagues.
Cleveland Cavaliers: Tristan Thompson the 3-point shooter? Now we've seen everything. In the second game of the season, Thompson made the first 3-pointer of his career. Then, on Tuesday against Philadelphia, Thompson connected on two 3s for the first time in his career. Now, don't expect Thompson to become a steady source of 3-pointers anytime soon, but the fact that the vastly improved big man is now stepping out and attempting to shoot the long ball is an indicator that it could become a bigger part of his game in the months and years ahead. And he has the coach in John Beilein to bring that out of him.
Dallas Mavericks: Kristaps Porzingis is attempting a career-high 6.2 3PA in his first nine games with the Mavericks, and that is both good and bad in terms of fantasy production. On one hand, it is leading to a career-high 2.3 3PG. On the other hand, we have already seen several poor shooting nights from the big man, including a forgettable 1-of-11 effort Monday in Boston. Porzingis has never shot under 42.1% in a season, but he's at 40.1% entering Thursday.
Denver Nuggets: Will Barton is off to a fantastic start to the season in many ways (15.6 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.4 SPG), but the category that sticks out is his 3-point shooting. The veteran swingman has made 53.1% of his 3s through the team's first eight games, which translates to 2.1 3PG despite only 4.0 3PA per game. Somehow, he is rostered in only 56.2% of ESPN fantasy leagues.
Detroit Pistons: Blake Griffin made his 2019-20 debut on Monday against Minnesota then sat out Tuesday's game to rest, and that's the way things could be for the 30-year-old forward this season -- sitting the back end of back-to-backs. That's especially true in the near future, as Griffin works his way back from hamstring and knee issues that cost him the first 10 games of the season.
Golden State Warriors: Draymond Green has been one of the biggest fantasy disappointments so far this season, with his numbers down nearly across the board as he plays his way through a finger injury. After averaging at least 1.1 BPG in each of the past five seasons, the veteran forward has just one block in his first seven games this season.
Houston Rockets: Clint Capela left Wednesday's game early after colliding with Clippers big man JaMychal Green, and he has already been ruled out for Friday due to a concussion. This likely will cause the Rockets to lean more on veterans Tyson Chandler and PJ Tucker to play more minutes at center.
Indiana Pacers: Victor Oladipo (quad tendon) practiced full court with the Pacers' G League affiliate on Wednesday, according to Scott Agness of The Athletic. The plan is for Oladipo to be re-evaluated in a few weeks, but for him to play full court for the first time in 11 months is certainly a step in the right direction and a return sometime in December could be possible. File this away if he's out there on the waiver wire; he's currently rostered in only 52.2% of ESPN fantasy leagues.
LA Clippers: Paul George is expected to make his Clippers debut on Thursday night against the Pelicans, per ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk. Kawhi Leonard will sit out this game, the second of a back-to-back set. It's going to be interesting to see how Doc Rivers navigates all this, and how the presence of George will impact Leonard when the two eventually play together.
Los Angeles Lakers: Don't look now, but the Lakers lead the NBA in defensive efficiency, allowing only 96.8 points per 100 possessions. In recent seasons, streaming players against the Lakers has been a strategy to use in recent years, but that is no longer the case this season.
Memphis Grizzlies: Dillon Brooks may be the most overlooked player in fantasy as we approach the middle part of November. He currently ranks third on the Grizzlies with 27.3 MPG and is stuffing the stat sheet on a nightly basis with 13.6 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.1 SPG and 1.7 3PG. Somehow, he is still rostered in only 8.4% of ESPN leagues.
Miami Heat: A concussion has limited Justise Winslow to just five games played so far this season, but when the versatile forward plays, very few in the NBA log as many minutes as he does. Winslow's 36.2 MPG this seasons ranks sixth in the league, putting him behind only Fred VanVleet, Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Pascal Siakam and James Harden.
Milwaukee Bucks: Khris Middleton is slated to miss the next 3-to-4 weeks due to a left thigh bruise, and early indications by Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer are that it will be Donte DiVincenzo, Sterling Brown or Pat Connaughton moving into the starting lineup -- not veteran Ersan Ilyasova, who works well off the bench.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Jeff Teague (illness) returned from a four-game absence on Wednesday, but when he took to the court he did so as a reserve, coming off the bench behind rookie Jarrett Culver. Teague still played 23 minutes, but if he plays only around 23 MPG going forward -- and does so as a reserve -- he won't hold the same fantasy value we've been used to in recent years. This potential rotation change is worth watching closely in the coming days.
New Orleans Pelicans: Lonzo Ball (groin) won't play on Thursday against the Clippers, marking the third-consecutive game the third-year point guard has missed, but he's expected to return for Saturday's game against the Heat. Josh Hart (knee/ankle) and Jrue Holiday (adductor) will also be out against the Clippers, leaving Kenrich Williams JJ Reddick, Frank Jackson, E'Twaun Moore and rookie Nickeil Alexander-Walker to handle the load.
New York Knicks: Mitchell Robinson has been out since Nov. 6 after getting concussed when he took an elbow to the face against the Pistons, but the shot-blocking specialist is nearing a return to the court after missing the past three games. Robinson is listed as questionable for Thursday's game against the Mavericks. Meanwhile, Knicks point guard Elfrid Payton (hamstring) remains out and doesn't appear close to a return.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Dennis Schroder isn't scoring like teammate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and he isn't distributing like Chris Paul, but he is producing a whole lot better than many anticipated and playing just under 29.0 MPG for the Thunder. There's a lot to like there, and despite averages of 14.2 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 4.5 APG, 1.2 SPG and 1.3 3PG, the German point guard is still available in 49.8% of ESPN leagues.
Orlando Magic: Outside of Nikola Vucevic and Evan Fournier, the Magic are known for their young athletic players like Aaron Gordon, Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz, but would you believe it if I told you the Magic are also playing at the slowest pace in the NBA (99.9 possessions per game). To put that in perspective, the Pelicans and Rockets are getting roughly 10 more possessions per game than the Magic.
Philadelphia 76ers: The departures of Jimmy Butler and JJ Redick over the summer took away two scorers from the 76ers' lineup, and we are seeing how that has impacted Ben Simmons. So far this season, Simmons' assists are down from 7.7 per game to 6.6, putting a bit of a damper on one of his best tools in fantasy. On a bright note, Simmons' steals (2.6 SPG) are at an all-time high, and he currently ranks second in the league in that department behind Butler (2.7).
Phoenix Suns: Ricky Rubio didn't dish out the amount of assists we were accustomed to seeing in his time in Utah, but now that he's in Phoenix, he's back to being one of the league's best facilitators. The veteran point guard out of Spain enters Thursday ranked third in the league with 8.8 APG, trailing only LeBron James (11.1) and Luka Doncic (9.1).
Portland Trail Blazers: Lillard is putting up the type of numbers many expected Stephen Curry to have on the undermanned Warriors this season. And while it's easy to look at Lillard's 32.5 PPG and see that he's very likely to surpass his previous season-high of 27.0 PPG, an underrated part of Lillard's fantasy value is his contribution at the free throw line. Better than a 91% shooter at the charity stripe each of the past two seasons, Lillard is getting there a career-high 8.3 times per game this season while making 91.2% of his attempts.
Sacramento Kings: De'Aaron Fox is expected to miss 3-to-4 weeks due to a severely sprained left ankle, and on Tuesday, the Kings played their first game without their starting point guard. Interestingly, they won, beating the Trail Blazers 107-99, and they did so with Cory Joseph as the starting point guard and with a seven-man rotation -- Bogdan Bogdanovic and Yogi Ferrell were the only two players to log more than seven minutes off the bench. Expect coach Luke Walton to lean heavily on his starters over the next month.
San Antonio Spurs: The quality defense we've come to expect out of the Spurs is a big notch down so far this season, and Andrew Wiggins is the latest opponent to prove that after he went for 30 points against San Antonio on Wednesday night. The Spurs' 108.9 points allowed per 100 possessions is tied with the Knicks -- yes, the Knicks -- for 23rd in the NBA. Don't be afraid to stream players against the Spurs this season.
Toronto Raptors: An ankle injury has kept Serge Ibaka out of the lineup during the Raptors' past three games, but the impressive play of little-used backup Chris Boucher has been an unexpected silver lining. Boucher has averaged 10.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG and 1.7 BPG in 19.7 MPG during Ibaka's absence.
Utah Jazz: After starting 163 of 164 games during the past two seasons, Joe Ingles is coming off the bench for the Jazz this season, and his numbers have taken a big hit. Ingles, who has always been a sneaky source of assists, steals and 3-pointers since entering the league in 2014-15, has seen his scoring plummet from 12.1 PPG last season to 6.9 PPG. His assists are way down (5.7 to 3.5 APG) as are his 3PG (2.3 to 1.3) and SPG (1.2 to 0.7). It's still early in the season, but fantasy mangers with Ingles should be concerned if things don't improve in the next couple weeks.
Washington Wizards: Entering Thursday, the Wizards have allowed 112.4 points per 100 possessions, the second-worst defensive efficiency in the league (Warriors, 114.6). Factor that into your decisions when looking to stream a roster spot or when playing in daily fantasy leagues; finding players who are facing the Wizards is a savvy approach so far this season.